1083 replies to this topic

[Olympian2004]

I think the only nice ideas of that opening ceremony were
* to hoist the Olympic Flag automatically
* and to let the final torchbearer come through that (albeit artificial) fir grove before and thus to hide him from the spectators' view until the very last moment

But apart from that: Such dadaistic Cirque du Soleil for extremely intellectual people is simply not my cup of tea. While already Athens' avantgardistic opening ceremony lacked spontaneity and cheerfulness, Albertville's opening was almost depressing. I wonder what all the athletes thought. You know, sportswomen and sportsmen are not necessarily known for being very intellectual -- most of them must have bored themselves to death or must have had one "WTF?" moment after the other.

[mattygs]

Just found a youtube clip from the finale to the closing ceremony of the 1990 Auckland Commonwealth Games.
The performance is Dame Kiri te Kanawa singing *Now is the Hour*, an extremely impressive final act I think - especially when it revs up in the middle of it. Gotta say the simple use of the spaceframe birds hovering above is pretty effective.

[baron-pierreIV]

Olympian2004, on 24 October 2010 - 02:29 PM, said:

But apart from that: Such dadaistic Cirque du Soleil for extremely intellectual people is simply not my cup of tea. While already Athens' avantgardistic opening ceremony lacked spontaneity and cheerfulness, Albertville's opening was almost depressing. I wonder what all the athletes thought. You know, sportswomen and sportsmen are not necessarily known for being very intellectual -- most of them must have bored themselves to death or must have had one "WTF?" moment after the other.

Haven't viewed the recently unearthed Albertville clips yet...but great post above /\, Fab. You of course, remember that Papoiannou's favorite ceremony of all was this very Albertville one. I wonder if Dmitiris was actually treating himself to somr private, ironical fun at the expense of ATHOC?? Now, off to watch the newly uncovered artifacts.

Edited by baron-pierreIV, 25 October 2010 - 07:58 AM.

[baron-pierreIV]

Ikarus360, on 23 October 2010 - 10:21 PM, said:

Ok, finally after thousands of years, someone has started to upload the Albertville 92 ceremonies, as seen on french tv. This includes the artistic performances before the parade of nations (which i sadly didnt had on my posession)





Check the rest of his vids http://www.youtube.c...avidpremier2008

Interesting. Thanks, Jose.

Jeez, not as bad as Fab's mini-review above would have one think. The totally, minimalistic "talking heads" portion with, what I guess French Sign Language?, was truly corny and totally WTF??? And those outfits.

But the entry of the 64 nations's flags covering the skaters' derrieres? I'm surprised they allowed that to pass...and did not get flak for it? I would've have thought sticking national flags to cover people's asses, much less let them drag on the ground, would've broken protocol rules. Maybe not; or nobody on Decouffle's item bothered to check??

Now, the "12 Stars/Ode to Joy" segment was rather interesting. I actually liked it and kept thinking how grand it would've been done at night with dramatic lighting...as well as...how the hell would they have let those 12 skaters keep their 'star' costumes? Their garages which house their mini-Citroens and micro-mini Renaults certainly would not hold those contraptions. They would've had to build 15-foot-wide garages to store them.

But the rest of the costumes were atrocious! So tacky and cheap-looking that one would think the French revolution was actually about the condemnation of haute couture and not the destruction of the aristocracy!?! And Mme. Mitterand's outfit, was that Christian LaCroix's big joke, visual pollution or what??

You gotta stop finding these gems, Jose...othewise, I will NEVER have a definitive version of my book for the world!! On second thought, keep 'em coming, Jose, so faithful Olympic bibliophiles have to buy every edition of my masterwork. Now, where are those long-lost ceremonies clips of Denver 1976???

Edited by baron-pierreIV, 25 October 2010 - 08:00 AM.

[Lord David]

Olympian2004, on 24 October 2010 - 02:29 PM, said:

I think the only nice ideas of that opening ceremony were
* to hoist the Olympic Flag automatically
* and to let the final torchbearer come through that (albeit artificial) fir grove before and thus to hide him from the spectators' view until the very last moment

But apart from that: Such dadaistic Cirque du Soleil for extremely intellectual people is simply not my cup of tea. While already Athens' avantgardistic opening ceremony lacked spontaneity and cheerfulness, Albertville's opening was almost depressing. I wonder what all the athletes thought. You know, sportswomen and sportsmen are not necessarily known for being very intellectual -- most of them must have bored themselves to death or must have had one "WTF?" moment after the other.

I'm sure most excused the ceremonies for being "French".

[Olympian2004]

Lord David, on 25 October 2010 - 02:49 PM, said:

I'm sure most excused the ceremonies for being "French".

Well, the French can definitely do better than that (although their World Cup opening ceremony in 1998 with those four giants meeting in the centre of Paris also was a little bit... strange -- and tedious). And I'm asking myself whether every Frenchman was proud and happy after seeing that opening ceremony.

[mattygs]

Keep in mind, the French were following the wiggle'esque dancing Dinosaurs from Calgary - so they probably thought they were safe with whatever piece of *concept performance* they pulled out of their arse.
I guess the other thing that Albertville did well was the fact that they were probably the first ceremonies to have a design stage element as a centerpiece to their ceremony - with their gigantic mast tower.
This more recently has been quite the popular with the likes of the Sydney waterfall, Athens lake, Beijing paper and globe, Delhi's aerostat etc etc.
I have the Albertville 92 opening soundtrack, and to be honest, it's just not enjoyable to listen to . The ceremony itself had its moments, but it lacked the glue to form a good show I think.

[Durban Sandshark]

Christos would put up a couple of clips from the Athens 2004 Opening Ceremony preshow before they were all eventually taken down like the "Pass the Flame" performance. Hoepfully, someone in Greece would put up the entire preshow that was on ET1 on YouTube. Here's one that Christos actually did not upload but is making its GamesBids.com debut from the show with the MCs. Areti Ketime beautifully perfoms on the santouri a traditional Greek song about the Aegean Sea.

Areti Ketime performs "Mes Stou Aigaiou" at the Athens 2004 Opening Ceremony Preshow

[baron-pierreIV]

Durban Sandshark, on 25 October 2010 - 09:14 PM, said:

Christos would put up a couple of clips from the Athens 2004 Opening Ceremony preshow before they were all eventually taken down like the "Pass the Flame" performance. Hoepfully, someone in Greece would put up the entire preshow that was on ET1 on YouTube. Here's one that Christos actually did not upload but is making its GamesBids.com debut from the show with the MCs. Areti Ketime beautifully perfoms on the santouri a traditional Greek song about the Aegean Sea.

Areti Ketime performs "Mes Stou Aigaiou" at the Athens 2004 Opening Ceremony Preshow

Now...that is TOO creepy. Nobody was singing like that anymore in Greece. Too kitschy.

[Lord David]

Olympian2004, on 25 October 2010 - 05:25 PM, said:

Well, the French can definitely do better than that (although their World Cup opening ceremony in 1998 with those four giants meeting in the centre of Paris also was a little bit... strange -- and tedious). And I'm asking myself whether every Frenchman was proud and happy after seeing that opening ceremony.

Wait until the inevitable Paris Summer Olympics. Then you will see a bizarre, crazy opening ceremony.